The present invention relates to a card for cleaning magnetic transducer heads in an encoded card reading machine. More specifically, it relates to such a card for releasably holding a head cleaning solvent adjacent a visually distinguishable surface region disposed for contacting such a transducer head.
In recent years, with the proliferation of credit cards, what are referred to as automatic teller machines have sprung into generally universal use by banks and other financial institutions for providing automated teller services. That is, a customer of such a financial institution may use such a machine to perform various financial transactions which normally would require a teller or clerk employed by the bank to handle. Such transactions might include withdrawing cash from a checking or savings account or obtaining a cash advance from a credit card account, making a deposit to any of the three accounts just mentioned, or transferring funds between the various accounts.
Access to these accounts is provided by inserting a magnetically encoded-card in the machine which then reads the magnetically encoded information from the card. A code is then typed in by the customer which must be matched with the code stored by the computerized processor controlling the operation of the machine. If the codes match then the customer is allowed to perform the various transactions described.
One of the problems which exist with such a card-reading machine is that, as with other magnetic-media-sensitive tranducer heads, the actual head picks up contaminants from the media during repeated reading operations. The heads are in very inconvenient positions for cleaning.
This cleaning problem has been solved by providing a generally transparent card formed of a polyester backing to which is adhered a piece of white fabric in a position where the magnetically encoded strip on a transaction card would be. Solvent is placed on the fabric and the card is inserted as a customer's card would be. The teller machine attempts to read the card and, not finding a magnetic code on it, rejects it. However, during the attempted reading process, the transducer head is moved across the fabric. The solvent held by the fabric, in combination with the texture of the fabric, cleans the head.
While this type of card has provided an improvement in the facility with which transducer heads may be cleaned, it has some inherent problems. One of these problems is that the adhesive which holds the fabric to the base material has non-polymerized components which leach out while the card is wet with solvent. These leached components correspondingly become contaminants which decrease the effectiveness of the solvent and become lodged on the transducer head, thereby preventing a complete cleaning of the head surface. Further, it is difficult for a lay person, such as a bank clerk, to look at a card to determine whether there is solvent on the card.